Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 5:18 AM ET

SNA max pain

Spot (delayed)$357.51
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$360+0.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$39±10.9% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.32109 puts / 338 calls
Call wall$500largest call OI
Put wall$290largest put OI
IV3020.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$64Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $390

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 · FOMC decision Wed, Dec 9 · CPI release Thu, Dec 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Nov 20$380+6.3%23d
Fri, Dec 18$350-2.1%51d
Fri, Mar 19$360+0.7%142d
Thu, Jun 17$310-13.3%232d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot360260308356404452500$2M$0
■ put-side pain■ call-side painTotal payout option writers would owe at each settle price (both sides, all open interest, ×100 shares) — low settles hurt put writers, high settles hurt call writers. The minimum — 360 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot360260300340380420490150150
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SNA open contracts per strike for Fri, Mar 19.

Open-interest change: building vs unwinding

Needs two observed snapshot days for this expiration; the comparison appears automatically once the next weekday snapshot lands. We diff real observations only; nothing is estimated.

Volume by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot36026030034038042049011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot26030835640445250030%19%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 21.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 390260300340380420490+$45K−$45K
Net dealer gamma per strike, in dollars per 1% move, assuming the standard convention (dealers long calls, short puts) — an assumption, not an observation. Above the amber flip level hedging tends to dampen moves; below it, to amplify them.

Greeks by strike · Fri, Mar 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.92-0.022900.00260.34-0.03-0.09
0.89-0.033000.00340.42-0.04-0.12
0.85-0.043100.00430.52-0.05-0.16
0.81-0.053200.00520.61-0.05-0.21
0.75-0.063300.00620.70-0.06-0.27
0.68-0.063400.00720.79-0.06-0.34
0.61-0.073500.00790.84-0.07-0.41
0.53-0.073600.00840.87-0.07-0.49
0.44-0.073700.00850.87-0.06-0.58
0.36-0.063800.00820.83-0.06-0.66
0.28-0.053900.00750.75-0.05-0.74
0.22-0.054000.00660.65-0.05-0.82
0.16-0.044100.00560.55-0.04-0.88
0.12-0.034200.00450.44-0.02-0.93
0.08-0.024300.00350.35-0.01-0.96

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 22 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2703403804204605004060
Call open interest per strike, stacked across the checked expirations — each color is one expiry. Strikes are pruned to the liquid center of each chain.

All expirations combined — total open interest

spot2202803404004605202K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 4K put contracts open.

Reading this honestly

Max pain is arithmetic, not prophecy: the settle price that would minimize what option writers pay out at expiration, computed from open interest alone. Prices sometimes gravitate toward heavy strikes into expiry — dealer hedging is a real flow — but the evidence that max pain predicts settlement better than chance is mixed, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. Use it as a map of where positioning is stacked, next to the fundamentals and the earnings calendar, not as a target.

Data: Cboe delayed public feed (~15 minutes), refreshed here about every 15 minutes. Open interest itself updates once daily, before the open. Educational information, not investment advice.

Keep going: SNA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk